


"Just Friends"

by FloydFlies



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Minor Aang/Toph Beifong, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:48:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 19,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27845536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FloydFlies/pseuds/FloydFlies
Summary: Aang and Toph are starting highschool. They meet the rest of the gaang and obviously, chaos ensues. This is my first fic so cut me some slack. Reviews gladly accepted. Modern ATLA au
Relationships: Aang/Toph Beifong, Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 42





	1. The Boy

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to my first fic! I have tons more chapters at the ready, I'm just waiting for reviews. So send any you have my way.

Toph Beifong hated winter. She hated the cold, she hated the snow, and she especially hated the way everyone got all bubbly and fuzzy just because Christmas was near. As she trudged down the icy sidewalk, deep in her thoughts, she was suddenly thrown off balance by something hitting her in the head. “Ow!” she cried out. Lifting her hand to her temple she felt the wet sensation of water rolling down her neck. Someone just threw a snowball at her. “Who the fuck threw this snowball? I’m gonna kill them!” she yelled out. Across the street, ducking behind a bush,, a boy was laughing hysterically. “You!” Toph growled as she marched over to him. “Wait! Wait! Don’t kill me, I'm sorry,” the boy sputtered out through his fits of laughter. “Oh yeah, you seem so terribly sorry. It’s written all over your face,” Toph spat. She pushed the boy over and stood over him. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t mash your face in right now.” She seethed. “Because it would destroy my rugged good looks,” the boy replied cheekily. Toph was surprised. Nobody had ever spoken to her like this. “You’re either the boldest person in the world, or the stupidest,” she said to the boy, reaching her hand out to help him up. “The name’s Aang,” the boy told her. “and I am actually sorry for throwing the snowball at you. You just looked super down and I wanted to cheer you up.” “Yeah, well I'm not a big fan of being struck by projectiles, for future reference.” Toph looked at Aang properly for a few seconds. He was tall, very tall. He also had long, shaggy brown hair he kept underneath a beanie and grey eyes that looked like they held the sky in them. “You haven’t told me your name yet,” Aang said. “Call me Toph,” Toph said. “Ok Toph, I’m gonna go and throw more snowballs at unsuspecting civilians, if you would care to join me?” Aang asked “I’d like that,” Toph replied, punching him in the shoulder. “What was that for?” Aang yelped. Jesus that girl could pack a punch. “Payback,” Toph said simply. “now we’re even.”


	2. Highschool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two years later, it's time to go to highschool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two baby! I'm really enjoying this story and will probably continue it further.

Two years after their first encounter, Toph and Aang were still best friends. And on the first day of highschool, the two stood outside the next four years of their lives. “God, I hate school,” Toph huffed. “Summer goes by way too quickly.” Aang just chuckled and shook his head. “Toph, summer could last 30 years and you’d still say it was too short. Plus, we’re in highschool now. Soon enough we’ll be going to parties and stuff like that; Or whatever it is they do in highschool” “I guess you’re right,” Toph reluctantly sighed as the two started strolling through the front doors of Cardinal City High. “Girl, I’m always right.” Aang declared sarcastically, nudging her.The highschool was the loudest place Toph had ever been. Just second to the concert her parents took her to for her birthday three years ago. She was already dreading the next school year. Freshmen were running after each other and trying to find their classes. While the upperclassmen were just trying to make it through the sea of new students. Toph scowled as they made their way to reception to collect their timetables, while Aang wore an ear to ear grin. “Names,” the receptionist, a man named Bolin said rather curtly to the friends when they approached the desk. “Toph Beifong and Aang Power,” Toph replied. Bolin rustled around in the big box next to his chair and produced two sheets of paper. “These are your schedules, teacher’s names are next to their class numbers, class numbers are next to building names,” The receptionist rattled this speech off with no emotion, probably because he’d said it thousands of times to thousands of kids. Toph and Aang took their schedules and began wandering around the school trying to decode the numbers and names on the paper. “Alright so it looks like we have biology with Mr. Fire period 4 together, and English period 7 with Ms. Sato,” Aang said, looking between his and Toph’s sheets. The two continued to drift around until an older boy stopped them. “Hold it, freshmen. This is the junior hallway, turn back now and maybe I won’t take your money.” He told them. Toph silently sized this guy up, while Aang just stood there tensely, knowing what was coming next. “Listen here dipshit,” Toph started, poking him in the chest (it would've been his forehead she poked, if it weren't for the fact she barely came to his shoulders) “please tell me how the fuck we’re supposed to know this is the “junior hallway”? And secondly, if you think you’d get anywhere near my money, you’d be on the floor before your hand even got halfway to my wallet. So i don’t know who you think you are talking to us like that, we’ve been here not even a day, we’re just trying to find our fucking classes, so you can either help us do that or fuck off.” The junior just stood there in shocked silence for a few seconds before another student walked over and smacked him on the head. “Sokka, leave those freshmen alone! Sorry guys, my brother is an ass.” The sister of Sokka apologised. “Yeah, no kidding,” Toph replied. “Did you just hear what that kid said to me?” Sokka sputtered to his sister, still absolutely stunned. “Do you know where class 4B is?” Aang asked the girl. “Yeah,” she replied. “you wanna go down that hallway over there and turn left. It’s the first class on the right.” “Thanks!” Aang replied appreciatively; he smiled awkwardly and took Toph by the arm, leading her away from the two older teens. “Did absolutely nobody hear what that kid just said to me?” Sokka repeated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thanks to everyone who's read up until now. More chapters to come. Please review! :)


	3. Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toph and Aang sit with the nice girl and her friends at lunch and get to know everybody. Review please :)

The first half of the day went by rather uneventfully for Toph and Aang. Their biology teacher, Mr. Fire, was nice enough, though he had the most monotone voice in the world, which eventually led to Aang and Toph goofing off for the last ten minutes of class. When they entered the cafeteria for lunch, they were called over by the nice girl they had met earlier. “Come sit with us, guys!” she called over the ruckus of the cafeteria. After getting their food, Aang and Toph placed themselves down at the table. The nice girl, the junior named Sokka, another girl who they could only assume was Sokka’s girlfriend, due to her being so close to him, and a moody looking guy drawing in a sketch pad all sat with them. “I assume you guys already know my older brother, Sokka,” the nice girl said. “But I’m Katara, that’s Suki, Sokka’s girlfriend, and the dark looking one is Zuko.” The two freshmen nodded to everyone. “I’m Aang, and this is Toph,” Aang told them “it’s nice to meet you all.” “Sokka told me what you said to him earlier, Toph. I told him if he kept messing with freshmen someone would give him what he deserved.” Katara commented. Toph just laughed. “Yeah, well I don’t like being caught off guard with disrespect.” “Sokka was whining the entire way through the first period,” Zuko chimed in, looking up from his sketchbook. “No Zuko you don’t understand, she was like four feet tall! It was like she was planning for someone to try her or something,” Zuko mocked. Sokka just huffed as the rest of the group laughed, but began to see the funny side of it and joined in on the laughter. Aang and Toph sat with the others for the lunch break, just getting to know each other and Katara giving Aang advice about what to do or not do in highschool while Toph and Sokka cracked jokes at the other’s expense. After lunch the rest of the day flew by and before they knew it, Aang and Toph were walking back home. “That wasn’t too bad, was it Toph?” Aang said. “We made some new friends on day one.” “Yeah, it wasn't the worst,” Toph replied. The two friends continued their route together until Toph reached her gates. "Well, this is me. "See ya tomorrow Aang,” she said as she started down her long driveway that led to her large house. “Bye Toph.”


	4. "We're just friends"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang are hanging out at lunch when Suki comments on Toph and Aang's supposed "relationship". the two then try to convince everyone they are just friends.

September went by rather uneventfully, apart from Toph landing herself in two weeks of detention for making fun of a teacher’s hat. “It was ridiculous! Someone needed to tell him before he embarrassed himself.” was her only defense when confronted. But with October came Halloween, and whispers of house parties. As the gang, the name they had been given by Sokka, sat at lunch, one particular house party was all that was discussed by the older kids. “Seriously, what’s the big deal about this party you guys keep talking about?” Toph asked with half a ham sandwich in her mouth. “Ok, first of all, swallow your food first, Toph,” Katara said, grimacing. “And this isn’t just any party, Toph,” Sokka butted in. “This is a Chris Chan production.” “A what now?” Aang chimed in. “Chris Chan!” Sokka cried. “He throws the wildest parties in the world. His parents travel loads for work so he basically lives alone in this huge house downtown.” “So he’s a rich kid who throws parties in his parents house?” Toph quipped. "What a cool dude.” “Oh like you aren’t rich Toph” Sokka rebutted. “Aren’t your family like, one of the wealthiest in the country?” “Yeah, and what?” Toph spat back. She hated when people mentioned her family’s wealth. It’s not like she denied that she was rich; she just hated when people said it like that was the defining feature of her character. Aang gave a look to Sokka to let him know to cut it out. “Oh, uh, no reason,” Sokka muttered, realising he had struck a nerve. “But anyway, this dude Chris Chan is the biggest party animal ever,” Sokka continued. “they say he came out of the womb holding a beer bong.” That got a chuckle out of Aang. “This guy sounds like quite the character; when’s this fabled party, then?” Silence descended on the group. “Halloween... but sorry dude, but this is strictly a junior and senior party.” Sokka told him awkwardly. “I barely even got Katara in as an exception.” “And the only reason she was allowed is because Chris Chan thinks she’s hot.” Zuko explained to them, looking up from his sketchbook. “Shut the fuck up, that’s not at all why he said yes,” Sokka protested. “He said yes because he’s on the football team with me and is doing me a favour.” “Mhmm, sure.” Zuko deadpanned. “Zuko stop,” Katara blushed. “Chris Chan isn’t even my type anyway.” “Well we don’t need your shitty party,” Toph sassed. “Aang and I will have loads of fun on Halloween without you.” Suki, who had been silent up until now, poked Sokka in the ribs. “See! They don’t need to go to some wild party to have fun together on Halloween,” she complained. “Why don’t we do some cute couple stuff like them instead?” “Wait a second,” Aang interrupted. “Toph and I aren’t dating.” “You guys aren’t?” Suki puzzled, clearly confused. “What? No!” Toph and Aang both cried, looking to each other and back to the group. “We’re just friends,” Toph assured. “Oh, sorry guys,” Suki replied. “we all thought you were a thing.” The rest of the gang, who were equally as confused, confirmed that. “Why would you guys think we were dating?” Aang asked. “Well you always hang out together,” Suki said. “I’ve never seen you not sitting next to each other,” Katara added. “And Aang, aren’t you always dragging Toph around by the arm?” Zuko asked the young teen. “Well, yeah we do all that stuff. But that’s only because we’ve known each other so long,” Aang explained. “right, Toph?” “Yeah guys, we’re just friends.” Toph repeated. “And while we’re on the topic of couples, Zuko and Katara, when are you guys gonna get together?” Zuko choked on his juice and began coughing, while Katara just started laughing. “Toph, you’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel for a comeback aren’t you?” she giggled. “Yeah, what brought that statement about?” Zuko scoffed, tears in his eyes as he was still clearing his throat. “Has nobody else noticed that little “spark” between the two of them?” Toph said to the rest of the gang. “Hey, that’s my sister and best friend you’re talking about Toph,” Sokka warned. “I don’t think there’s any scenario when me and Katara would date,” Zuko said. “Oh really? And why’s that?” Katara asked Zuko, looking hurt. “Wait, I didn’t mean it like that,” Zuko backtracked. “I just meant like I wouldn’t date you. Wait, actually, that didn’t sound any better.” “No you don’t need to explain any more, I’ve got the idea,” Katara spat poisonously. She stood up from the table and marched away. Sokka leaned over and smacked Zuko on the head while he just sat there, face in his hands. “That was too smooth, Sparky,” Toph remarked sarcastically. “Fuckkkkk,” Zuko groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally I started getting some Taang hints in the story. I've been trying to find a way to integrate it like this and now was the perfect place for it. And for all you Zutara fans out there, I got you ;) (sorry though hahah)


	5. Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aang needs to talk to Toph about the conversation earlier at lunch. which wouldn't be a problem except he may have not gotten the answer he wanted. At the same time, Zuko tries to patch things up with Katara

“Yo Toph! Wait up!” Toph turned to the direction of the call and saw Aang jogging down the hallway towards her. “Hey Aang it’s really bucketing rain out there and my dad’s waiting for me in his car, you want a ride?” she asked when he reached her. “Nah im good,” Aang said as he slowed down. “I just needed to ask you something.” Toph looked at him quizzically, he looked worried. “Hey Aang, you ok?” “Huh, oh yeah I’m fine,” Aang responded. The two stood just inside the front doors of the school, the cold autumn rain splashing off the concrete steps that lead down to the carpark. “Well are you gonna ask me that question?” Toph finally asked after a few uncomfortable seconds. “Do you think other people think we’re dating?” Aang said quickly. Toph just stared at him for a few more seconds. “That’s what you wanted to ask me?” Toph questioned, a smirk growing on her face. “Aang, I couldn’t care less if people thought we had killed someone. We aren’t dating so why would you need to care if people think we are?” “Yeah, totally,” Aang responded, looking relieved. “I guess that’s true. It was just on my mind. We are just friends... right?” “Yes, Aang, last time I checked we are just friends.” Toph chuckled. “I didn’t know what the guys said earlier would make you have such an existential crisis.” “Ok, cool.” Aang said.“See you tomorrow?” “Obviously, dummy,” Toph told him as she ran into the rain and towards her dad’s silver Mercedes. “Cool...” Aang told himself. He and Toph had always been friends, and they would always be just that, friends. But why did that thought bother Aang so much?  
Katara marched through the carpark, her hair getting soaked. But she didn’t care about that. She was too angry to care about anything. “Who does that asshole think he is saying that to me?” she spat to nobody in particular. “I mean, am I that repulsive that he would say straight to my face that he couldn’t bear to date me? That boy gets on my nerves so much.” She continued her rampage of abuse towards Zuko to her imaginary crowd until someone interrupted her. “Can that boy give you a ride home?” Katara stopped dead in her tracks and turned to Zuko leaning out the driver side window of his wine red Mustang. “Uhmmm, let me think for a second,” Katara put her finger up to her chin in a mock expression of thinking. “how about no?” “Katara, don’t be like that. You’ll catch something if you walk home,” Zuko pleaded. “and even if you don’t get sick, it won’t be very enjoyable.” Katara stood, considering Zuko’s offer. Was her pride seriously more important than not getting completely drenched after walking home in the rain? “Ugh... fine” she sighed, walking over to Zuko’s car and dropping in the passenger seat in a dramatic humph. Zuko began to drive Katara home. He finally broke the tense silence a few minutes into the route. “Listen,” he began. “I’m sorry about earlier. But that’s not what I meant and you know it.” “Then what did you mean Zuko?” Katara seethed, emphasising every word bitterly. “because to me, you made it pretty clear you wanted nothing to do with me.” “That’s not it!” Zuko yelled, “I meant that you’re insanely out of my league so why should I ever bother trying!” The two sat quietly as they pulled up to a red light, letting Zuko’s statement hang. “You think I’m out of your league?” Katara asked, turning to Zuko. “Well yeah,” He continued. “literally every guy in the school thinks you’re hot; even Chris Chan, and every girl in senior year wants him.” “Zuko, I already told you Chris Chan wasn’t my type,” Katara blushed. “plus, he’s a senior, it’s kinda creepy that he’d think I’m hot considering I’m only a sophomore.” Zuko let out a small laugh. "Well, what is your type then?" he queried. "I don't know," was all Katara said. “I promise I wasn’t trying to insult you, Katara,” he assured her as the light turned green and he continued driving. Katara fell silent for another few seconds, until she eyed Zuko’s sketchbook lying between their seats. “Hey Zuko, what is it you spend all your time drawing in your book?” “Uhm, nothing really,” Zuko hesitated. “just some stuff I work on.” “Ok mr. mysterious,” Katara remarked. “Would I be able to see what you’ve got in there?” Zuko chuckled quietly. “Maybe someday, but not today.” The two sat in a comfortable silence for the last couple minutes of the ride, the tone having done a complete 180 since the beginning of their conversation. Zuko pulled up to the house and Katara stepped out into the rain again. “Hey Katara,” Zuko called to her as she began running to her door. “Yeah?” she replied. “We ok now?” he asked. “Yeah, Zuko, we’re good.” And with that, she walked through her front door and closed it behind her, leaving Zuko alone in his car. “Damn,” was all he could say to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there you go! Aang's feelings beginning to develope, and Zuko and Katara building tension. I won't be posting another chapter for the next week because I have Christmas exams, but expect some content over the break. Reviews are welcome, as always :)


	6. Party Crashers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fed up of doing nothing, Toph decides that she and Aang are going to Chris Chan's house party.

It was Halloween night as Aang and Toph sat in Toph’s room playing Super Smash Bros. Aang always liked being in Toph’s room. With all of the heavy metal posters on the wall and dirty shirts strewn across the floor, he felt like he was in the cool older brother’s bedroom in a Disney Channel movie. “I can’t believe everyone else is out partying while we’re here playing video games,” Toph huffed, tossing her controller across the room, leading Pikachu to jump off the platform and lose the match. “Yeah it kinda sucks,” Aang replied as he went to recover the discarded controller. “But there’s nothing we can do about it, unless you want to go crash the party.” He joked. Toph snapped her head in Aang’s direction, a manic grin growing on her face. “Wait, Toph I was joking,” Aang backtracked. “Joking, hahaha, you know?” he emphasised. “Aang you brilliant bastard!” Toph cried, jumping up and completely ignoring Aang’s protests. She shook him by the shoulders and danced around the room. “This has got to be the greatest idea you’ve ever come up with, dude,” she whooped. “Toph, we can’t!” Aang protested. “we’re not allowed, it’s only juniors and seniors, remember?” Toph just shook her head, already pulling on her grubby Vans. “Aang, what is my life motto?” she asked. “What? I don’t know,” Aang replied after a moment. “Live, laugh, love?” Toph jumped up and stomped her foot purposefully on the ground. “My life’s motto, Aang, is that rules are for fucking losers. Now get your shoes on, we’re going to a party.” Aang just sighed and grabbed his runners. There was no point in arguing with Toph when she had decided she was going to do something. The two friends creeped down Toph’s staircase into the main atrium of her house. They then needed to make it past the large open door that led straight into the living room where Toph’s parents were watching a movie and to the front door that led to her long gravel driveway. “Ok, listen carefully,” Toph whispered to Aang at the base of the stairs. “we just need to get out the door; after that, we’re home free.” “What if they see us?” Aang whispered back worriedly. He had never snuck out before. “Then we just say we’re going trick or treating or something,” Toph replied. “And what if they come up to check on us in your room?” Aang questioned. “Aang, my parents haven’t checked on me at night since I was nine. We’ll be fine, now shut up and stop worrying.” Toph went first, dashing silently across the marble floor and stopping at the large oak front door. She signalled to Aang to come to her, her parents hadn’t seen her. “We’re so fucked,” Aang thought to himself. But, strangely, he was enjoying himself. The rush of adrenalin felt good. He hyped himself up for a few seconds and began his own route to the door. After what felt like three years of crawling, he made it to Toph. “Nice going, Aang,” she said. “except I could’ve gone to the party and came back in the time it took you to crawl those eight meters.” Toph inched open the door as quietly as she could, but a strong gust of wind almost made her lose grip on the handle. Then they heard Toph’s mother speaking from the living room. “Do you feel a sudden draught, honey?” Poppy Beifong said to her husband, Lao. “No, but I can go check to see if the kitchen windows are open,” he responded, lifting himself up from the couch. “Oh shit, shit, shit!” Toph breathed. “Fucking go Aang!” she hissed, shoving him out the door. Lao Beifong found the source of the draught when he left the room; the front door was slightly ajar. “Huh,” he said to himself. “I need to talk to Toph about closing the door properly tomorrow morning.” Toph and Aang sprinted down the driveway, not daring to slow down or look back. “Toph, you didn’t close the door!” Aang cried. “Who cares?” Toph sang. “That was so sick.” Aang couldn’t help but catch on to Toph’s contagious mood. “It was pretty cool,” he admitted as they slowed down, catching their breath. “Ok, so where does this Chris Chan boy live exactly?” Aang asked Toph as they began down her street, passing by bands of trick-or-treaters. “Somewhere downtown, I assume,” she said back. “We’ll find it pretty easily, I think.” When the two friends made it to Chris Chan’s house after about 30 minutes of walking, the party already looked to be in full swing. People were talking in the yard with cans of beer and vodka in their hands, while loud techno music pumped from somewhere inside the house. “Check it, there’s a guy at the door,” Toph pointed out to Aang from their position behind a bush in Chris Chan’s yard. “I’d put money on him being some sort of security.” “Ok, so we wait for him to leave, then.” Aang suggested. “No way,” toph scoffed. “patience is also for losers.” “That’s debatable,” Aang muttered. “Oh, score!” Toph exulted. “Open window on ground level,” she continued, pointing to a slightly lifted window around the side of the house. “It’s almost like he wants people sneaking in,” she commented smugly. Aang led the way this time. The two friends snuck over to the bins that were situated under the aforementioned window. Aang leaped up onto the bins with surprising agility and slipped through the window within seconds. “Holy shit,” Toph exclaimed quietly to Aang through the window. “Ok mr. twinkletoes.” Toph attempted to follow in Aang’s path, but with significantly less grace or ease. She fell through the window onto the tiled floor of the bathroom. “Like a fucking mouse,” she quipped. “Well now the hard part is over,” Aang said. “what now?” “Now, my good friend,” Toph replied. “We party like animals.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back baby! Christmas exams suck, but if anyone is still waiting on new chapters I got a good one now. it's my favourite so far so review it!! As always, thank you for reading :)


	7. Party Crashers: Part 2

Aang and Toph peeked out of the bathroom door to get their bearings. They seemed to be in someone’s bedroom. Another teenager was in the room and passed out on the bed. 

“Coast seems to be clear,” Aang stated.

They began towards the door of the bedroom and opened it up. The blast of noise that met them was loud enough to knock Toph off her feet. The bass that was coming from the large speakers in the centre of the living room blasting techno music shook the entire house. And the 150 odd juniors and seniors cheering and jumping around didn’t help keep the levels of noise down, either.

“Holy shit, this is awesome!” Toph yelled into Aang’s ear over the racket. “let’s try and find some people we know.”

“Toph, we don’t know anybody here!” Aang shouted back

“Well then let’s go find the gang.”

Toph led Aang through the party by his hand with a huge grin on her face. This was the best idea ever.

“Hey I think I see Zuko over there!” Aang shouted, pointing over to the corner of the room.

“Ha!” Toph laughed. “Trust Sparky to be the guy who stands at the wall all night.”

The two made their way over to him.

“Toph? Aang? What the hell are you two doing here?” Zuko asked.

“Delivering the mail, why else would we be here?” Toph answered sarcastically. 

“Ok, but why are you here?” Zuko asked, ignoring her remark.

“Because we got sick of doing nothing at home”

“We snuck in,” Aang interjected enthusiastically, the spirit of the party catching on to him.

“Well congrats,” Zuko retorted. “good luck trying to not get kicked out.”

“Some encouragement you are,” Toph complained with a sigh. “come on Aang, let’s see if we can find some alcohol.”

Toph guided her friend through the packed room and towards the kitchen, where they assumed the drinks would be. Any chance of them getting kicked out was out the window as the people around them were either having too much fun to care about the freshmen walking around, too drunk to even know what a freshman is, or a combination of the both. Toph grabbed a can of Bud Light for her and Aang out of the cooler bag set up on the kitchen counter, but as she pulled the tab back, she realised she had never even tried alcohol. Aang had already begun drinking his.

“Does it taste good?” Toph asked, staring at the can in her hand hesitantly.

“Eh, you get used to it after a while,” he commented.

“Do you drink a lot?” Toph questioned, shocked she didn’t know about this.

“My uncle Gyatso started letting me have a beer with dinner after I turned 13” Aang explained. “said it would stop me from drinking to rebel against authority or something.”

Toph eyed her beer with caution. Slowly she brought it to her lips. The cold liquid hit her tongue and her eyes widened. It wasn’t bad. It tasted like carbonated bread water, but she had had worse drinks. She looked over and Aang had already finished his.  
“Woah there Twinkletoes, slow down,” she said

“Nah, don’t worry about it, I have a built up tolerance,” Aang replied. “let’s go dance.”

Toph, now being dragged onto the dancefloor by Aang, was pleasantly surprised. She never took Aang as the party animal type. But here he was, dancing and jumping to the chorus of “Momentary Bliss” by Gorillaz. Toph couldn't help but jump and dance with him. For the first time, Toph took a good look at Aang. he had definitely grown up since she first met him two years ago. But that mischievous little boy was still there on his face. Aang took her by the hands and they shook each other around as the music continued. He was still as tall as ever, she barely even came up to his shoulders. His long hair swung around and slapped his face as they danced even harder. The song came to an end and Aang bent down to speak into Toph’s ear. 

“Let’s get drunk,”

“Twinkletoes, you just read my mind.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back, to whoever cares. Exams done and now I'm gonna try and get new chapters churned out ASAP. Reviews appreciated as always. (I also learned how to format properly)


	8. The Morning After

Aang’s eyes snapped open. His first thoughts were that wherever he was, it was way too bright for his eyes. He brought his arm up to shield his face and rub his pounding head, so much for natural tolerance. But when he tried lifting his arm, for some reason he couldn’t. He noticed there was something on top of his arm, weighing it down.

“What the fuck?” Aang muttered to himself. 

Turning his body over, Pale white skin met his gaze when his eyes adjusted. He was looking at the back of a very naked girl lying on his arm. Jet black hair fell over her small shoulders and almost down to her waist. 

“What the fuck?” he gasped before cursing himself. He did not want whoever he had apparently slept with to wake up. 

This was not good. He began to dig through his memories from the night before as he tried to wriggle his arm out from underneath the girl’s body. All he could remember was talking to Toph and heading towards Chris Chan’s kitchen to get more alcohol. After that it became a blur of drinks and dancing; he remembered even drinking some sort of frat house esque vodka mix. When he finally removed his now dead arm from underneath the girl, he took in his surroundings. Aang was in his own room, which was a good thing. That meant that he didn’t need to worry about getting home. But he did need to worry about getting the girl out of his home. It was 10:30am, Gyatso would have gone to work by now, so maybe he could hide somewhere until the girl woke up and left herself? No, that wouldn’t work, plus he felt the need to actually talk to the girl and clear up what happened the night before. He realised that he needed to wake her up himself and get her to leave. This was definitely not how Aang imagined he would lose his virginity. 

“Wait until Toph hears about this,” he said to himself.

Aang grabbed a pair of underwear from his drawer and spotted an opened condom wrapper on the floor.

“At least we used protection,” he thought, relieved to learn that he wouldn’t need to be a father for another while.

He walked over to the girl lying in his bed, trying to figure out what he was going to say to her. As he reached out to tap her on the shoulder, she shifted in her sleep. Aang brought his hand back slightly. The girl turned over, revealing her bare front and face. 

“Holy shit!” Aang screamed.

Jumping back. He slipped on a sock thrown on the floor and fell back into his curtains, bringing them down with him. This immense noise finally roused the sleeping girl.

“Ughhh, who’s making all that fucking racket? I think I’m hungover.” Toph Beifong groaned as she pushed herself up.

She looked around for a second and slowly realised where she was and how little clothing she had on her.

“Why am I in Aang’s room and naked?” she yelped.

“Please don’t kill me, I think I can explain,” the tangle of curtains squeaked from the floor.

Toph grabbed the bedsheets and covered her body clumsily. She leaped out of Aang’s bed and marched over to where he lay on the ground.

“Aang Power, you have three seconds to get up off the ground and get out of this room so I can get dressed before I set those curtains on fire with you in them,” Toph fumed.

Aang untangled himself and sprinted out of the room like his life depended on it, because it probably did. Toph slammed the door behind him and began to rant from the other side of it.

“Seriously Twinkletoes? You’re telling me we fucked last night. Why the fuck did you let this happen?”

“Toph I could barely remember my own name last night!” Aang protested. “do you really believe I was in a good enough state to deny you?”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Toph questioned him through the door.

“No, not like that, Toph,” he began to backtrack. “I mean I was fucking wasted, and I’m pretty sure you were as well, so I’m not sure either of us knew what happened.”

“You’re so shit at explaining yourself, Aang,” Toph chuckled dryly.

“Listen,” Aang began. “I don’t think yelling at each other through my bedroom door will help much, can I come in?”

“Yeah come in, I got clothes on now,” Toph replied.

Aang opened his bedroom door slowly and looked in. Toph’s and his clothes from last night were strewn about, and Toph was standing in the middle of his room dressed in one of his shirts and tracksuit bottoms. 

“Get on some clothes yourself, Twinkletoes,” Toph directed. “I’m not talking to you in your underwear.”

Aang went over to his wardrobe and quickly threw on a t-shirt and basketball shorts.

“Fuck I’m so hungover,” he grunted.

“Same here,” Toph huffed.

“So…” Aang began. “Do you remember anything from last night?” 

Toph stood for a moment, thinking hard before wincing in pain. 

“It hurts to think, but I don’t believe I do,” she replied.

“So it’s safe to say that we got blackout drunk and had sex?” Aang proposed.

“Seems like it dude,” Toph said.

Aang ran his hand through his hair in frustration, except all he felt was air.

“Huh?” he exclaimed.

“Oh my fucking god, Aang. your hair is gone!” Toph screamed.

Aang put his hands onto his head, all he felt was a smooth scalp. 

“Where is my hair?” he cried.

“Holy shit!” Toph cackled.

Aang started pacing the room in fearful frustration while Toph stood laughing and pointing at his bald head. 

“Stop laughing Toph!” Aang raged. “This isn’t funny!”

Toph was about to make another comment on how it was sort of funny when the sound of Mother Mother’s “Hayloft” interrupted them. 

“That’s my phone ringing, shut up for a second.” she ordered Aang, who was now hyperventilating.

She followed the ringtone to her jean’s back pocket. When she picked it up the name “Katara” flashed up on the screen.

“Hello?” Toph asked, putting the phone up to her ear.

“Toph? Oh thank god!” Katara cried through the phone.

“Jesus, Katara, calm down I’m super fucking hungover right now,” Toph complained.

“So you were at Chris Chan’s party last night?” Katara questioned.

“Who’s asking?” Toph replied cautiously, fearing a lecture.

“The 200 people who have a video of you shaving Aang’s hair are asking!” she exploded.

"So that's why Twinkletoes here is going through all five stages of grief in front of my eyes," Toph commented.

Toph brought the phone away from her ear as a new barrage of criticism from Katara sent a sharp pain through her head.

“Hey Aang, I think I know what happened to your hair,” she called over to the boy who was now in a heap on the floor.

“Listen, Katara,” she said, turning her attention back to the phone. “Head over to Aang’s house, I think he needs some comfort.”

“Ok, fine. You two need to explain yourselves anyway.” Katara grunted. “Will I bring the others as well?”

“Yeah why not,” Toph chuckled. “make it a party”

“Not funny Toph,” Katara huffed as she hung up the phone.

“I didn’t know your hair was that big a deal, Twinkletoes,” Toph said. “I think you look cool with no hair, personally.”

Aang just groaned.

Before the others arrived, Toph got Aang into a good enough state to convince him to help her clean the bedroom. The last thing they needed was their friend group finding out they slept together. They also agreed to never speak of said sexual experience again. Aang’s doorbell rang at about 12:30.

“I’ll get it,” Toph said to the now defeated teenager lying on the floor. Apparently Aang’s hair meant a lot to him.

Toph made her way to the front door of Aang’s uncle’s apartment and opened it for her friends. Katara stood at the front with nothing less than a furious look on her face while Sokka and Zuko stood excitedly behind her.

“Toph do you have any idea how stupid that was last night?” Katara ranted. “I mean, two freshmen going to a junior and senior party? On Halloween! You’re lucky the only negative that came from it was Aang losing his hair.”

“Yeah where is the little bald dude anyway?” Zuko asked.

“Yeah we wanna see if he looks stupid!” was Sokka’s contribution to the conversation.

“He’s in his room,” Toph told them. “but go easy on him, he’s pretty bummed about it.”

The three upperclassmen and Toph came into Aang’s bedroom to see the boy standing with a mirror in his hands, trying to survey the damage. There was a few seconds of shocked silence while the gang took in what they were looking at before Sokka burst out laughing.

“Hahaha! You look like a fucking monk, dude!”

Toph snorted and Zuko joined in on the laughter, even Katara was grinning.

“Sokka, stop.” Katara said. “He’s obviously sad.”

“Nah,” Aang sighed, waving his hand in the air. “I’m coming to terms with it, I think.”

“Well I’d say we need to get down to business and dissect last night’s shenanigans,” Sokka chirped. “I’ll go make coffee, it helps with hangovers.”

The gang all sat in Aang’s room and sipped on their coffees. Aang had a glass of water because he said that it would help better. The three older students interrogated Toph and Aang about their journey, which Aang and Toph recounted happily. It was pretty fun, after all.

“The one thing I want to know is this,” Sokka began mischievously. “Aang or Toph, did either of you get laid?”

Aang choked on his water and began coughing all over the place, while Toph just became very quiet.

“Excuse me?” Aang gasped.

“You heard me buddy,” Sokka replied. “Any ladies we should know about?”  
“Sokka stop that,” Katara scolded. “They were the only people under the age of 16 there, there’s no way they could’ve done anything. Unless they had sex with eachother or something.” 

Katara laughed at her last comment; whereas Toph just gave Aang a side eye, and Aang began choking on a whole new sip of water.

“To clear up any thoughts,” Toph stated loudly. “No, neither Aang nor myself had sex last night.”

Zuko’s phone buzzed and he took it out to see what the notification was from.

“Hey, someone sent me the video of you shaving Aang’s hair, Toph,” he smiled.

“Ooh, show me,” Sokka pleaded.

Zuko turned his phone screen to face the rest of the gang and they all huddled together to get a good look at the video. Whoever was filming was obviously very drunk, seeing as the camera kept swaying and shaking, but they could see what was going on fairly clearly. Toph stood in the middle of a large circle of people with Aang sitting on a chair. Both freshmen were taking turns sipping out of a bottle of vodka as Toph raised a hair razor to Aang’s head. Aang winced as he watched the first clump of hair fall victim to the clippers. From there it was just Toph shaving more of Aang’s hair until it was all gone. When she had finished the haircut, the entire crowd burst into a cheer and Aang began to sing Blink 182’s song “Bored to Death”.

“Flattering,” Katara commented dryly.

“Oh come on Kat,” Sokka said. “Everyone at that party was drunk, including us.”

“Ok, but we aren’t freshmen and we all have a full head of hair still,” Katara Pointed out.

“It’s really not a big deal, Katara,” Aang reasoned. “we had fun, that’s all that matters.”

“Whatever,” she huffed.

The rest of the day consisted of the gang just relaxing in Aang’s apartment. When Katara asked if Toph’s parents knew where she was she just shrugged.

“I’ll just tell them me and Aang woke up early and went on a walk.”   
That night Toph Beifong lay in her bed. Her parents believed her story about waking up early, and with her hangover said and done with, she thought about last night. She could vaguely remember her and Aang going back to his apartment. She couldn’t exactly recall the things that happened, but she remembered how she felt. It was so passionate and…loving. But she and Aang were just friends. And they were both completely wasted. Maybe sex felt like that all the time. Somehow, Toph doubted herself. Aang Power was in the same position as his friend. However, he genuinely couldn’t remember a single thing from the night before. He did remember that day when Toph told him that they’d only ever be friends, and he remembered how that bothered him. 

“Friends don’t go around having sex, even when they’re drunk, do they?” he asked himself.

“I’m too tired to think about this right now,” Toph said to her ceiling.

Both Toph and Aang turned over and went to sleep a lot more confused than they were 12 hours earlier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just needed to reinforce the Taang plot here. This is gonna be the first of many key moments in their relationship. Also I thought it would be super funny to have this happen. Reviews are always welcome, and thanks for reading:)


	9. Spirit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally get to figure out what Zuko spends all his time doing in his sketchbook

Zuko Kai snapped his sketchbook shut as his bus pulled up. He would’ve usually driven home, but he was having his Mustang serviced right now. He hopped up and stepped up through the swinging doors of the city bus.

“This goes uptown, right?” he asked the driver.

“It does indeed, young man,” the older lady behind the wheel said.

Zuko handed her his money and made his way to the back seat of the vehicle, lurching slightly when the bus began driving down the road. Zuko settled himself into a seat, ignoring the “no feet on seats” sign and draping his leg across the neighbouring chairs to stop anyone sitting next to him. He gazed out the window as his headphones played James Bay’s “Let It Go” in his ears. The gray sky had a tint of orange lying behind it’s cloud cover. Winter meant days ended earlier, and at only 4:45pm, sunset was commencing. Zuko turned his attention back to his thoughts. He was going out tonight. His biggest and most dangerous mission yet was in just over 7 hours. He needed to clear his mind and be ready. Zuko spent the entire 25 minute ride drawing in his sketchbook before the bus finally came to a stop.   
“Hey, kid,” the old driver called back to him. “is this your stop?”

Zuko took one of the buds out of his ears and nodded to the lady.

“Yeah this is me,”

He pulled himself up and jumped down off of the bus. 

“Thanks,” he said, turning back to the lady behind the wheel.

“No problem,” she replied. “just keep your feet off my seats.”

Zuko laughed as the doors swung shut and the bus took off. He walked the opposite way down the footpath, his house was only a couple minutes away. Zuko’s home stood very prominently at the top of a hill. The large Victorian Era mansion had a very cold and mean look to it. The faded red brick of the house paired with the large black gates and grey pebble dash walls that surrounded the property made it seem more like some sort of mental institution than a family home, Zuko thought. He punched in the password to his gates and let them groan open all the way before starting his trek up the long tarmac driveway. He noticed his father’s black Cadillac wasn’t parked where it usually was, much to Zuko’s delight. He didn’t want to have a conversation with that man, especially when he needed his mind to be at ease. He opened the large oak doors and swiftly walked towards the staircase that would bring him to his room, but he was interrupted halfway there. 

“Hello there brother.”

“Hello Azula.”

Zuko wouldn’t say he disliked his younger sister Azula. He just disliked the way she acted. She was very like her father, and Zuko hated his father. But Azula was also only 14, she still had a lot of development, and Zuko knew she was very smart. He hoped she would one day realise that their father, Ozai, was not a man to look up to.

“Where are you off to at such a pace?” Azula inquired.

“My bedroom,” Zuko responded flatly.

“Would you not join us for dinner?” Azula asked slyly, knowing that she was getting on her brother’s nerves.

“No. I’m fine thank you.” Zuko scowled. 

“And why is that, dear brother?” Azula queried.

“Listen, Azula, I have something i need to do right now. So I’d appreciate it if you just left me alone,” Zuko said, composing himself.

Azula knew when to stop provoking, so she just sighed and flicked her hair.

“Well, it’s on the table for you anyway if you want it.” She told him, her voice softening slightly.

“Thank you, Azula,” Zuko nodded. 

Azula turned away and walked back in the direction of the dining room. Zuko trudged up the stairs and into his room before collapsing into his four poster bed. He lay there for a few minutes before deciding that he was wasting time. It was almost 5:30 and he needed to be out of the house by 12:00 if he wanted to make it in time.

“Ok, let’s get ready,” he thought out loud.

Zuko made sure his door was locked before reaching up and pulling a duffle bag down from the top shelf of his wardrobe. He unzipped the bag and pulled out an intricate Chinese mask. It was painted blue and white to make the face of a spirit. Along with the mask, the bag contained a black jumpsuit and Zuko’s weapons of choice for his missions. He stared down at the contents in his bag, his nerves growing with every minute closer to when he needed to leave. Zuko realised that he needed to have energy for what he was going to do that night, so he placed the mask back into the bag and returned it to it’s hiding spot in his wardrobe. He then went downstairs to eat his dinner; he hoped it was spaghetti. Zuko really liked spaghetti.

At 11:30, Zuko brought the duffle bag down once again. The rest of his family were asleep right now, his father still hadn’t returned from wherever he was, so Zuko knew it was time to make his move. He changed out of his clothes into the jumpsuit and donned the blue spirit mask. He then picked up a smaller bag and loaded the rest of the duffle bag’s contents into it. Metal hit against metal as he swung the bag over his shoulders. Zuko knew he would make too much noise if he exited through the front door, but fortunately for him, his bedroom window allowed him to use the drainpipe as a firefighter pole. Zuko slowly opened his window, cold, harsh winter air blew through into his window. While most people would have begun to think twice about leaving the comfort of their homes, Zuko felt that the cold only encouraged him. It was just one of many obstacles he needed to clear before he completed his end goal. Sliding down the drainpipe and landing softly on the driveway below, Zuko headed not towards the gates, but to the back wall, where he could climb over and make his way along the city rooftops where he wouldn’t risk being caught. The soft, padded feet of Zuko’s jumpsuit allowed him to gracefully prance between buildings and roofs. When he finally reached his destination, Zuko began his ascension. This mission was his most dangerous for a reason. It had taken three and a half months of casing and analysis from passing by to map out the safest route up the side of the building. Now, on the eighth floor, Zuko took his bag off and opened it up. Pulling his weapons out, one in each hand, he grinned to himself under the mask.

“Showtime,” Zuko whispered.

The rattle of the spray paint cans in Zuko’s hands as he shook them rang out through the dead night. But at this height, nobody was going to see or hear him. Zuko had all the time in the world. Zuko held the can of paint a couple inches away from the wall, beginning the thin sketch of his tag. He had first seen this wall back in the summer. A blank concrete wall on the eighth floor of an abandoned office building; if Zuko did this correctly, nobody would be able to miss his name when they walked by on the ground. And he was gonna make sure he did this correctly. With the sketch done in red, Zuko’s tag screamed back at him in massive block letters. “SPIRIT” had been Zuko’s alias in the world of graffiti for almost five years. He had grown quite a reputation in Cardinal City, with many other taggers and artists shouting him out in their work. But he had never gained the public attention he wanted. Zuko’s goal was to one day make it onto the news. And now, perched on a thin ledge, almost 30 meters above the ground, Zuko was convinced this would be the stunt to bring him into the public eye. With the letters filled in with chrome, Zuko’s personal favourite colour, he began the black outline. The rush that Zuko got from writing graffiti was what pushed him to keep going. Always wanting to do riskier and more public spots to get that adrenaline high he craved so dearly. He finished the 3D of his piece and added a red splash and highlights. This was going to make the news for sure. And 20 minutes wasn’t a bad time either. 

“Alright, let’s get out of here,” Zuko said to himself.

He began his descent back down to the next rooftop. He had written the message “Do you see me now?” beside his piece, just to add a bit of insult to injury. Landing softly back onto the lower rooftop, he turned around to admire his art. Everyone was going to see it.

“Hey kid! What the fuck are you doin’ up there?”

Zuko’s heart skipped a beat as he peered over the edge of the building he was on. A strong light met his gaze.

“Cardinal City PD, stop where you are now!” the cop yelled, holding a flashlight in his hand.

“Try and catch me, piggy!” Zuko jeered down to the officer on the street.

Zuko took off along the rooftops once again, with more speed this time. He knew that the cop wouldn’t be able to catch him, but that didn’t stop him from feeling a sharp rush of fear run through his veins. 

“This is why I do what I do,” he thought to himself with a grin. “Fuck you!” he screamed into the night. To who? Not even Zuko knew; he just needed to get that out of his system.

Slipping back through his bedroom window, Zuko ripped his mask off and gasped in a breath of fresh air. He was covered in sweat from sprinting all the way home. He collapsed into bed and didn’t even bother taking off his jumpsuit as he was asleep in seconds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god! This is officially my favourite chapter so far. I really tried hard on this one because I wanted to focus more on another character, and who better than the moody king himself. Please review as this I'm super proud of this chapter. Thanks for reading:)


	10. The New Girl

Aang sat in his uncle’s old, beat up Audi A3 on his way to school. The DJ on the radio was going on about some guy who did something to an office building on 25th street, but the freshman was barely listening. He was too preoccupied trying to think of what he was going to say when he saw Toph during fourth period. He hadn’t seen her since the day after Halloween, two days ago.

“Aang, you looked troubled, is there something the matter?” Gyatso inquired from the driver’s seat.

“No, I don’t think so,” Aang began. “ugh! Maybe there is?” he went on. “Gyatso, how do you know if a girl likes you as more than just a friend?” Aang finally asked.

“Ah, I see, girl trouble,” Gyatso smiled knowingly.

“Yeah, kinda,” Aang sighed.

“Young Aang, the only way to truly know a person’s feelings towards you, is to ask them yourself. Otherwise, you will spend your entire life guessing.” Gyatso told the young teen.

“I suppose so,” Aang said. “Thanks Gyatso,” he smiled. 

“Anytime, Aang,” Gyatso replied.

The two sat in a comfortable silence for the last few minutes of the ride to school. When the car pulled up to the gates, Aang knew what he had to do.

“Have you made your decision about the girl, Aang?” Gyatso asked as Aang stepped out of the car.

“Yeah, I think so,” Aang replied, swinging his bag over his shoulder.

“That’s good,” Gyatso told him. 

Aang began walking to the front doors of the school.

“Oh! Aang!” Gyatso called to him.

“Yeah?” Aang said, turning back to look at his uncle.

“Say hello to Toph for me,” Gyatso said, winking at Aang.

Aang stopped walking and blushed.

“Yeah.. I will,” he muttered.

Gyatso chuckled as he pulled away, leaving Aang standing on the pavement embarrassed.

As Aang walked to his first class of the day his nerves grew worse. Every step he took sent a new wave of nausea through his body. He didn’t even know why he was so nervous; all he was doing was talking to Toph about what happened. Talking to Toph was something he did everyday. So why was this such a big deal? Opening the door of the classroom he saw a girl he had never seen before sitting in his seat. He made his way over to confront her.

“Hey, I think you’re sitting in my seat,” Aang told the girl.

“Oh no, am I?” she asked, looking embarrassed. “I didn’t realise we had assigned seating.”

Aang felt bad. He hadn't seen her before. She looked new.

“Well we don’t really,” he explained. “but it’s kinda an unofficial rule that everyone sits in the same place.”

“Oh god, I’m really sorry” she fretted. “I just moved here and nobody told me that. I’ll move right now.”

Aang stopped the girl before she went away.

“Hey, no worries. Here, sit next to me. Sam O’Niel is supposed to be sitting there but the day he comes into school before lunch is the day hell freezes over.”

The girl giggled as she sat down in the seat beside Aang’s. “I’m Meng, by the way.”

“Aang,” Aang responded, extending his hand out.

“Ooh, a handsome boy who’s also a gentleman, they don’t have those in Atlanta.” Meng commented as she shook Aang’s hand.

Aang’s face turned red. This girl Meng was nice. She had a nice smile, too, Aang thought.

“Let me introduce you to my friends at lunch,” Aang said. “they’re super cool.” 

“Ok,” Meng replied with a smile.

Yeah, this girl had a really nice smile.

When Aang’s teacher came in, the two stopped talking and began their work. But that didn’t stop Meng from passing a note to Aang.

“Thanks for being nice to me on my first day,” the note read.

“No problem,” he wrote back. “it’s easy when you’re really nice too.”

At lunch, Aang brought Meng over to the table where the gang all usually sat and introduced her to them all.

“Hi,” Meng said meekly, waving to everyone. “I’m Meng. i just moved here from Atlanta.”

“Hi Meng!” Katara smiled enthusiastically.

“What’s up,” Sokka waved.

“Hey,” Zuko mumbled through a mouthful of sandwich.

Toph just stared at Meng for a few seconds, nodded gruffly at her, and went back to eating her spaghetti.

“What’s her problem?” Meng asked as her and Aang sat down.

“That’s just Toph,” Aang explained. “she’ll warm up eventually.”

Meng got on well with the rest of the gang, much to Aang’s delight. Katara asked her about the colour of her nails, and Sokka asked if she did any sports. The two of them then went on to have a conversation about basketball. Aang was happy. He helped Meng find friends on her first day in a new school.

“So Aang, do you have a girlfriend?”

“Huh?” Aang exclaimed, caught extremely off guard.

“I said,” Meng repeated. “do you have a girlfriend?”

“Oh. No I don’t,” Aang told her.

“A boyfriend?” Meng queried.

Sokka snorted.

“No, I don’t have a boyfriend, Meng,” Aang said.

“Ok, ok,” she said with a smirk. “Cool.”

Toph slammed her cutlery down onto the table and stood up.

“Hey, where are you going?” Katara asked.

“Bathroom,” Toph grunted. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

“Whoa, where’d that come from?” Sokka asked as the gang watched Toph march out of the cafeteria, knocking one of the smaller juniors to the floor while she was at it.

“No idea,” Aang said. “maybe I should go talk with her.”

“Leave it, Aang,” Meng said, grabbing his arm. “it looks like she needs to cool off a bit.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right,” Aang agreed.

Toph stormed through the halls of the highschool. She couldn’t believe the audacity of that girl Meng. She had been in the school less than one day and was already hitting on Aang. And not only that, she was doing it right in front of everyone! Did she ever hear of something called discretion? It’s not like Toph cared though. She didn’t give a shit if Aang got with someone, but she didn’t like Meng. Toph couldn’t put her finger on it, but something about that girl gave her a bad vibe.

“I need to go on a walk,” Toph said to herself.

It wasn’t even until Aang’s second class with Toph that he even remembered he was supposed to talk to her about Halloween. As he sat down, though, something in his mind told him that wasn’t a good idea.

“Hey, where’d you go during lunch?” he asked Toph, who sat behind him. “You just disappeared.”

“I went on a walk,” she replied simply without looking up from her book.

“Ok…” Aang said. “Are you ok? You seemed pretty upset about something.”

“Maybe you should ask Meng what she thinks,” Toph spat.

“What are you talking about Toph?” Aang questioned.

“Well you two seem to be hitting it off so well, so why don’t you just talk to her about how I feel.” Toph told him poisonously.

Aang was surprised, Toph was never emotional like this. And she definitely wasn’t the type to get jealous of anyone.

“Toph,” he began. “are you jealous of Meng or something?”

“What? No why would I be jealous of that girl?” Toph cried.

Aang looked around nervously, their classmates were looking at them and giving strange looks in Aang’s direction.

“Ok, you’re not jealous,” Aang agreed quickly. “just please calm down.”

“I’m completely calm!” Toph exclaimed.

Silence descended among the class as everyone turned to look at the two friends. Toph realised this and knew she was acting completely out of order. Sighing, she gathered herself and began talking again.

“Look, Aang,” she said, much quieter this time. “I don’t like that girl, she gives off a bad vibe.”

“A bad vibe?” Aang laughed. “Toph you’ve never even had a conversation with her, how can she give you a bad vibe?”

“I can’t explain it, I just know she’s bad news, Aang.” Toph vacillated. 

“Well please just be pleasant to her,” Aang said. “it’s not easy being the new kid in a school.”

Toph just grunted as Ms. Sato walked in and told the class to take their books out. Aang decided that he was definitely not talking to Toph about Halloween now. Plus, they were just friends anyway, nothing was going to change that.

As Toph and Aang walked home that afternoon, Meng chased after them.

“Hey! Wait up a sec!” she yelled to them.

Toph rolled her eyes.

“Act like we didn’t hear her and run,” she whispered to Aang.

“Toph, don’t be mean,” he demanded, slowing down to let Meng catch up.

“Hey guys,” Meng panted when she reached the two freshmen. “I go home this way too so I thought hey, why not walk with friends?”

“Good choice,” Aang said.

Toph clenched her fists. That girl got on her nerves.

As the three continued on their ways home. Meng started talking to Aang.

“So, Aang. I heard that the restaurant down on Park Street is pretty good.”

“Oh, yeah, Ronald’s is super good,” Aang confirmed. “I’d say they have the best burgers in town.” 

“Maybe we could go on Friday,” Meng suggested.

“That’s an awesome idea,” Aang said to her. “I’ll just text Zuko and the rest and see if they’re free.”

Meng giggled. “No, like me and you should go on Friday. You know.. alone?”

The penny finally dropped for Aang and his face flushed red.

“Ohhhhh,” he realised. “Uhm, yeah, cool. Totally. That would be cool. Very cool. Yeah.” 

Meng laughed as they got to the corner of a street.

“This is me,” she said. “But see you tomorrow, Aang.” 

Aang’s face was still tomato red as he waved goodbye to her. “See you.”

Toph, who had been silent throughout that entire exchange, finally spoke up.

“You’re too smooth, Aang Power,” she commented sarcastically.

“What was I meant to say?” Aang cried. “She totally dropped that on me out of nowhere.”

“You still could’ve handled it better,” Toph told him.

“You don’t mind, do you?” Aang asked her cautiously. 

“Why would I mind? If she didn’t ask you out, I don’t think anyone would.” Toph smirked.

“Thanks,” Aang replied dryly. “but I thought she gave you a “bad vibe”

“I don’t care, dude,” Toph assured. “have fun, or whatever you’re supposed to say when a friend gets a date.”

“Thanks, Toph,” Aang said.

“But get that goofy smile off your face, I don’t want that becoming a recurring thing.” Toph said, pointing to the wide smile Aang had been wearing since Meng left.

“Whatever,” Aang concluded as they reached the front door of the apartment complex where he and Gyatso lived. “see you tomorrow, Toph.”

“Bye, Aang,” Toph waved to him.

Ceramic met drywall as a potted plant crashed into the wall of the bedroom and put a sizable hole in it before falling to the floor and spilling dirt on the carpet. Toph Beifong stood from where she launched the plant across her room. Furious didn’t even begin to describe what Toph felt at that moment. One thing kept flashing through her mind every time her eyes closed, that bitch Meng being with Aang.

“FUCK!” Toph screamed as she threw another item.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to add a bit of drama to the story and Meng was the first thing to come to mind. Hope you enjoyed reading. Please review :)


	11. The Date

Aang arranged to meet Meng at her house on Friday. He was feeling very confident up until Meng’s father answered the door. He was a very tall man, with a shaggy beard, and the white tank top he wore highlighted his muscular arms and wide chest.

“I don’t want another Jehova’s Witness speech, go somewhere else,” he said gruffly, closing the door in Aang’s face.

“Oh, fuck,” Aang whispered to himself. “this is gonna be a long night.”

The teen boy knocked on the door again, hoping the man on the other side was friendlier than he looked.

“Are you deaf or something? I said fuck off!” Meng’s father spat at Aang.

Aang stood dumbly on the spot before clearing his throat.

“I think there-” he began, before the mother of all voice cracks interrupted him.

“Ahem,” he began again. “Sorry. I’m not a Jehova’s witness sir, my name is Aang Power,” he said before extending his hand out. “I’m here to take Meng on a date.”

“You aren’t a Jehovah’s Witness?” Meng’s dad asked Aang, looking at him up and down and ignoring his hand.

“No sir, I am not.” Aang responded, slowly lowering his arm. God, why was he sweating so much?

“Then why the fuck are you dressed like one, kid?” Meng’s father challenged.

Aang looked down at his outfit. He was wearing a pair of navy chinos and a polo shirt. Granted, he did look like a church goer, but he didn’t know what else to wear.

“I guess I am dressed like one,” Aang laughed, hoping humour would help break the ice.

“What are you laughing at?” Meng’s father demanded.

“Nothing, sir,” Aang mumbled, falling silent again.

“I’ll go get Meng,” the man said. “you stay right here, and don’t come inside.”

“Ok, sir,” Aang replied meekly.

The giant closed the door again and left Aang standing on the porch absolutely terrified. Maybe if he ran now he would have enough of a head start to make it home before Meng's dad caught up. Aang stood there for about two minutes, or five years, depending on who you asked, before Meng came back with her father. 

“Hi Aang!” she smiled, giving him a hug and stepping back. 

Aang was blown away. He had only ever seen Meng wearing casual school clothes. So now, seeing her in a dress that fit her very well, he began feeling hot again.

“Well, what do you think?” she asked, doing a little twirl.

“You look… very beautiful,” Aang said, glancing at her father, who stood behind Meng with his arms crossed.

“Aw, you’re so sweet,” Meng told him. “well, let’s go then.”

“Hold it,” her dad commanded from the front door.

Aang stopped dead in his tracks while Meng just rolled her eyes.

“Dad, please don’t give Aang some speech,” she sighed.

“I’m not going too,” her father responded. “I’m just making sure he knows that the standard I expect my daughter to be treated is very high.”

“Of course, sir,” Aang said, his voice quavering slightly. “I’ll treat her very well.”

“I’m happy to hear that, Adam,” Meng’s father said.

Aang decided it was best to not correct the man; and began to walk Meng towards the restaurant.

“I hope he didn’t scare you too much,” Meng apologised as the two strolled down the footpath.

“Nah, I wasn’t scared,” Aang lied. “I was just worried I had overdressed.

“I think you look very smart and handsome,” Meng smiled, blushing slightly.

When the two arrived at Ronald’s, they were seated in a small table in the corner. Aang always liked Ronald’s. The restaurant was pretty new by all accounts, but was designed to look like a classic diner from the 80s, with black and white checkered tiles on the floor, white leather booths, and small backless stools lining the long counter where mostly older men sat. It was able to pull all this off without looking tacky. Many people came here for dates, and many friend groups came to eat out together.

“What can I get you guys?” the waiter asked Aang and Meng a few minutes after they sat down.

“I’ll have a cheeseburger with fries and a coke, please,” Aang said.

“And you?” the waiter asked, turning his attention to Meng. 

“Uhm... I think I’ll have the same,” she replied.

“Right away,” the waiter told them before nipping off to the kitchen.

Aang and Meng talked for a long time. Meng told Aang all about life in Atlanta, and Aang told her about the best places to hang out in Cardinal City. The thing that they spent the most time discussing was snow. Aang had spent his entire life living in the south of California, so he had never experienced snow before. Meng showed him pictures on her phone of her making snowmen and having snowball fights with her friends when she was younger. When their food arrived, they started having a debate about whether or not ketchup was a good condiment.

“How could you not like ketchup?” Meng cried. “It goes with burgers so well.”

“No it doesn’t,” Aang objected. “you’ve just been conditioned to think it tastes nice.”

“Conditioned?” Meng asked. “So ketchup is some sort of conspiracy then?”

“Yes,” Aang replied. “The government invented it to oppress our free will.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Meng dismissed.

Aang was enjoying himself. Meng was super funny and nice. And her smile never failed to give him butterflies. He walked her back towards her house after dinner and they continued talking.

“I don’t need to be home for another hour and a half,” Meng said, checking her phone. “maybe we could go back to yours and hang out?”

“Yeah ok,” Aang replied. “it’s not far.”

Aang and Meng stood at his door out of breath after having to walk up three flights of stairs.

“The elevator never works,” Aang complained.

“No worries,” Meng told him. “I feel like we needed the cardio after that dinner.”

Aang chuckled as he unlocked the apartment door and stepped in.

“Gyatso, I’m home!” he called into the apartment, but only silence met him.

“Is he not home?” Meng asked.

“Must not be,” Aang shrugged. “We can hang out on the couch then.”

Aang sat down on the worn brown couch and kicked his shoes off. Meng joined him, sitting extremely close to him.

“So..” Aang began. “What do you wanna do?”

“I have an idea,” Meng whispered into Aang’s ear before crawling on top of him.

“Oh, wow,” Aang breathed before their lips locked together.

Meng began running her hands up and down Aang’s chest, sending goosebumps all over his body. She then began to take his polo top up and over his shoulders. Aang really liked Meng, and she had an amazing body, but something stopped him from letting him go any further.

“Wait,” Aang said, pushing Meng away.

“What’s wrong?” Meng asked him.

“I don’t think this is a very good idea,”

“Do you not like me or something?” Meng shot.

“No, it’s not like that at all,” Aang explained. “I’m just not ready.” 

“Not ready for what?” Meng interrupted.

“Whatever we were about to do,” Aang replied.

“Well I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable Aang Power,” Meng scowled.

Meng threw Aang’s shirt back at him before grabbing her shoes off the floor and storming over to the door.

“You don’t need to walk me home,” she shouted as she slammed the door behind her.

Aang sat on the couch with his shirt still in his hands. That escalated extremely fast.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked into the empty apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Meng you toxic bitch. Learn how to take a rejection. Please comment and leave a kudos if you enjoyed :)


	12. Don't Bother

Monday came and with it, Aang had first period with Meng. He was prepared to apologise to her, even though he wasn’t sure what he had done wrong. He sat down next to her and tapped her on the shoulder as she had headphones in.

“Hey, I just wanted to apologise for Friday, I didn’t mean to insult you,” he said when Meng took her headphones out of her ears.

“It’s ok Aang, I forgive you,” she replied with a smile.

“Are we good?” Aang asked her.

“Yeah, we’re good,” Meng reassured, giving Aang a quick peck on the lips.

Aang turned red and looked around. Meng was very bold. But he guessed that was her way of letting people know they were dating.   
At lunch, Meng and Aang sat next to each other and held hands. Katara and Suki spent the entire time obsessing over the two, asking them endless questions. All of which Meng and Aang were happy to answer. 

“Yeah, we started dating on Friday,” Aang told Katara and Suki.

“Aw, I’m so happy for you two!” Katara bubbled.

“Yeah, congrats,” Toph muttered.

Aang looked over at Toph, she seemed oddly calmed. He was glad she wasn’t mad, the last thing he wanted was his best friend to not like his girlfriend. But while he was looking at her, something caught his eye.

“Toph, why are your knuckles bruised?” Aang asked.

“Are they?” Toph said, turning her hands and inspecting them. “I don’t see it.”

“Yes they are,” Aang insisted.

He got up and brought her away from the table, much to Meng’s dissatisfaction, and leaned over, taking one of her hands in his.

“Look! They are,” he told her, pointing to the blue-black marks on covering her knuckles.

“Must be a trick of the light,” Toph stated. “I don’t see anything.” 

Aang knew there was something Toph wasn’t telling him. But she never kept secrets from him.

“Toph, did you get into a fight?” Aang questioned, frowning.

“It’s probably a trick of the light,” Toph repeated with a look that said “leave it”.

Aang wasn’t satisfied. He was going to talk to her more about this later. 

“Ok, if you insist.”

Aang and Toph sat back down, everyone at the table gave them a strange look.

“What was all that about?” Sokka asked them.

“Nothing,” they said in unison.

Meng brought Aang closer to her and kissed him on the cheek. Katara and Suki both melted at this sight, Suki nudging Sokka and asking him why he didn’t do that more often. Nobody, however, caught that when Meng kissed Aang, she did so while staring directly at Toph; nobody except for Toph herself, who only stared back twice as hard.

Six months later, in late May, Aang and Meng were still dating. Aang was happier than he had ever been, Meng was such a great girlfriend. Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen Toph as much since that day when he asked about her bruised knuckles; but they still said hi in the hallways and sat next to each other in their classes together. 

Aang was on his way to Meng’s house on the day of their six month anniversary. She wasn’t in school, so he decided to surprise her with flowers and a card. He had planned to take her to Ronald’s, since that’s where they had had their first date, but he assumed she was unwell, so he decided against it. He was beaming as he rang her doorbell. He couldn’t wait to see her face when she saw what he brought her. He expected her dad to answer the door (he was actually quite a pleasant man when Aang got to know him), but instead Meng answered. 

“Oh, hi Aang,” she said. “you didn’t tell me you were coming.”

“I wanted to surprise you,” Aang told her. “happy six months!” 

“Oh my god… flowers,” Meng said, surprised. “thank you.”

“You’re wearing a towel?” Aang asked, noticing the white towel wrapped around her as she took the flowers from him.

“Uhm… yeah,” she stuttered. “I just got out of the shower.”

“Your hair is dry though,” Aang pointed out. “and you’re acting weird, are you ok?”

“Yeah I’m fine Aang,” Meng snapped, “just right now isn’t a great time.”

“Meng! Who is it?” a voice shouted from somewhere in her house.

“Who was that?” Aang asked her, he was becoming suspicious.

“Nobody,” Meng said quickly. “listen, Aang, I gotta go but thank you for the flowers.”

“No,” Aang stopped her. “Who’s calling your name?”

“Meng, are you coming back up?” a boy Aang had never seen before asked as he walked down the stairs. He was only wearing his underwear.

“What the fuck is going on?” Aang demanded.

“Who the hell are you, buddy?” the boy questioned angrily, standing behind Meng, who looked afraid.

“I’m Meng’s boyfriend!” Aang yelled. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Boyfriend?” the boy asked Meng after a few seconds of silence.

The three of them stood there for almost 30 seconds before the reality of what had happened dawned on Aang. He laughed dryly before stepping back.

“I see what’s going on,” he choked, holding back tears. “I hope you’re happier with him, Meng.” he finished before walking away.

“Aang wait!” Meng called, but Aang was already sprinting down the street, tears streaking his face.

Lying in his room, Aang was hurt and confused, he did all he could to make sure Meng was happy. He took her on dates and always kept her company when she needed it. Hell, she even cried in his arms a few times. He was always there for her. He couldn’t have done anything wrong. 

Aang’s phone’s vibrations snapped him out of his trance. Picking it up and holding it over his face, he saw the notification. “Missed call from Meng”. Seeing her name just made Aang cry even harder. Why would she do this to him? “Worldstar Money” started playing for the fourth time in a row on the bluetooth speaker next to Aang, who tossed his phone across the room. Why had he wasted all that time and money on a girl like Meng? Toph was right from the beginning, that girl was bad news.

Toph.

Aang sprang up and scrambled over to his phone that was lying next to his laundry basket. He picked it up and opened his contacts. He couldn't remember the last time had talked to Toph. Meng didn’t like how much time they spent together. Aang hoped Toph didn’t hate him now.

“Toph, Meng cheated on me, you were right. I’m sorry. Can we talk?”

His finger hovered over the send button for a long time before he finally pushed it. His sadness was now replaced with anxiety. He stared at his phone screen for god knows how long before Toph finally began typing.

“I knew she was a cunt from the beginning. Meet me at the carpark on 23rd St. at 8:30. Bring workout gear. Don’t be late.”

Aang sat and read the text over and over trying to decipher Toph’s emotions behind it. He finally came to the conclusion that she didn’t hate him as much as he thought. So he felt it was safe to go to where she wanted to meet. He stood up from the floor, wiped away his tears, and changed into some basketball shorts, a tank top, and runners. He had no idea what Toph wanted with him, but he learned that after knowing her for so long, it’s best to just listen to her.

Aang arrived at the carpark at 8:20, he noticed there were a lot of tough looking people hanging around and was contemplating leaving before Toph tapped him on the shoulder.

“Sup,” she said.

“Hey toph,” Aang replied awkwardly.

“You know how much I love saying “I told you so”, Twinkletoes,”

“Yeah, I know,” Aang responded glumly.

“I told you so,” Toph sang triumphantly.

“I don’t know why she would do this to me,” Aang began.

“It’s because she’s a cold bitch with no feelings, Aang,” Toph interrupted. “now we aren’t gonna talk about it like you want. We’re sorting out your feelings my way.”

“Why do I have a feeling we’re about to do something illegal?” Aang wondered aloud. 

“You tell me, Twinkletoes,” Toph smirked. “follow me.”

Toph led Aang into the parking complex and to the third floor. Aang was not ready for the scene that met him. Cars were parked in a large circle. People sat and stood on or around said cars, and in the circle the cars bordered, there were two shirtless men fighting each other. No gloves, no wraps, just bare fists and legs. One man fell to the ground and the other straddled him and began to land punch after punch onto his nose and chin. The man on the ground tried to defend himself, but it was no use. He finally began tapping the ground, signalling he wanted out. Three other men jumped into the circle and pulled the first man off of the second. While the three referees of sorts tended to the man on the ground, the winner of the brawl strutted around the circle with his bloody fists in the air. The crowd cheered and whooped for the winner. Aang just stood in complete shock next to Toph who stood with a wide smile on her face.

“There’s really no name for this,” Toph began to explain to the dumbstruck Aang. “it’s basically just fighting with no rules and one objective, you win by either making the opponent tap out, or you win when they go out cold.”

Aang turned to Toph with a look of horror on his face.

“And you enjoy watching this?” he spluttered.

“Not exactly,” Toph smiled. “remember a couple months ago when you asked me why my knuckles were bruised?”

“Toph, don’t tell me,” Aang interrupted her.

“You can challenge anyone, and I’m unbeaten,” Toph finished.

The penny finally dropped for Aang. Meeting Toph at the carpark, the fighting, the workout gear and Toph wanting him to sort his feelings out “her way”.

“Toph if you expect me to get into that circle and fight someone, you’re absolutely insane.” Aang told her.

Toph smirked slyly.

“You figured out my master plan,” she declared.

“Toph I don’t want to fight anyone,” Aang insisted.

“Oh shut up for a second, Aang.” Toph moaned. “I know what I’m doing.”

“Ladies and gentlemen!” a man who Aang could only assume was the owner of this underground fighting event boomed from the center of the ring. “Are you entertained?”

The crowd exploded with a new wave of cheering and whooping.

“That’s good!” the man continued. “Now, are there anymore fighters here tonight?”

“Yeah! Right here,” Toph called from the back of the crowd.

“Ah,” the man said. “the Blind Bandit returns. Tell me, who is it you challenge tonight?”

Toph shoved her way through the many people in front of her, dragging the reluctant Aang behind her. She stood in the ring next to the man and shoved Aang away from her before pointing at him.

“I challenge this guy right here,” she declared.

The crowd burst into hollers and chanted the words “Accept the challenge! Accept the challenge!”

“Toph are you fucking insane?” Aang yelled at her. “I’m not fighting you.” 

“And why’s that, Twinkletoes?” Toph jeered. “And who the fuck is Toph? I’m the Blind Bandit!” 

The crowd continued to cheer and chant as the man in the center of the ring started speaking again.

“Well, it looks like we have a fight on our hands!” he bellowed to the crowd who were jumping and slamming the hood of the cars like apes in a zoo.

He walked out of the ring and slammed a pipe against one of the metal pillars supporting the carpark.

“FIGHT!”

Toph jumped into a closed stance with her hands up protecting her face. She hopped on the balls of her feet and started circling Aang.

“Toph,” Aang pleaded. “I don’t want to fight you”

“Tough shit, Twinkletoes,” Toph replied. “you’ve got a whole bunch of shitty feelings inside of you right now, and you need to get them out. Plus, I want revenge for you ghosting me for the last six months.”

Aang realised that he had no choice. If he tapped now, the crown wouldn’t let him leave. Also, Toph had a point. He owed her a couple digs for how he’d been treating her. He decided that in a no rules fight, it would be best to be shirtless so Toph wouldn’t be able to grab onto him as easily. So he ditched his tank top.

Toph’s eyes widened, since when was Aang muscular? She couldn’t let stupid stuff like that distract her though, she needed to focus. This was just like any other fight.

Aang got into a wider stance and began advancing towards Toph.

“Where’d you get the nickname “Blind Bandit”, huh?” he asked her when he got closer.

“Because I beat the shit out of a guy blindfolded,” Toph smiled evilly. Aang believed her, as well.

Snapping a jab out to catch Aang off guard, Toph was surprised to see that he dodged it with ease. She was then doubly surprised when he returned with a right hook that she barely ducked under.

“You got some moves, I’ll give you that,” Toph teased.

Aang just smirked. He sent another flurry of jabs and hooks, all of which Toph managed to evade. But they were all a distraction, he had moved Toph back enough to give him space to swing around and send a heel into her side. He didn’t want to hurt her badly, so he only put some force behind it.

Toph coughed the air out of her lungs as Aang’s foot collided with her body. She wouldn’t let him get her down that easy, though. She fell to one knee and when Aang advanced to knock her to the floor, she sprang up and sent her knee into his stomach.

Aang wasn’t expecting Toph’s attack so he was knocked off balance. She took his momentary weakness as an invitation to sweep his legs. He fell to the ground and saw Toph’s fist barreling towards his nose, she had her knee pinning his chest to the floor, so he couldn’t roll away, but he managed to shift his head to the side so Toph’s punch glanced past his face and into the floor.

Pain shot through Toph’s hand as her knuckles split on the rough concrete. She wasn’t expecting Aang to move his head. She was lucky she didn’t put her full force behind the punch as she probably would’ve broken her hand if she did.

The crowd was going absolutely nuts at the fight that was happening in front of them. Nobody had ever lasted this long in the ring with the Blind Bandit.

“Oh fuck! Cops!” somebody screamed over the ruckus of the fight. 

It took a few seconds before the statement registered with the crowd, but when the wail of police sirens echoed through the parking complex, the message became apparent.

“Scatter!” the owner bellowed.

There was an ecstasy of scrambling as people began to sprint in every which way. The owner of the cars jumped in and their tires screeched as they sped away, maneuvering through the crowd.

“Time to go!” Toph shouted to Aang who was on the ground.

She helped him up as a police cruiser screamed to a stop a few meters away from them.

“Cardinal City Police Department! Stop right now!” the officer hollered at them.

“I know a back exit,” Toph told Aang as the two of them took off with the cop chasing behind them.

They dashed past police tackling and handcuffing attendees of the fighting event. Toph sidestepped an officer who tried to stop them, Aang just barged him. The original police officer who was chasing the two friends was long behind them and turned his attention to someone hiding underneath a car. Aang followed Toph down an emergency staircase and out a fire exit, setting off the alarm while they were at it. They kept running until they were two blocks away.

“Ok, ok,” Toph panted as they began slowing down. “start walking so we don’t look suspicious.”

“Good idea,” Aang agreed. “I don’t think I could’ve kept running anyway.”

Aang and Toph cautiously made their way back to Aang’s house, ducking behind a bin or bush every time a white car drove past them. It was past 11 o’clock by the time they made it back.

“Where’d you get those moves from, Aang?” Toph asked.

“Gyatso taught me how to defend myself from a young age, so I could always try and settle a dispute safely, if talking didn’t work,” Aang explained. “What about you Blind Bandit?”

“I taught myself everything I know,” Toph replied. “I just wanted to be able to beat the shit out of someone if I needed to.”

Aang laughed heartily, he had missed Toph.

“Hey Toph, I want to say thank you for tonight,” Aang began. “as cynical as I was, it did help me sort out the shitty emotions.”

“Don’t get mushy on me, Aang,” Toph yawned. “you know I hate that stuff.”

“Seriously though,” Aang insisted. “I’ve been treating you like shit for the past few months, and you were there to help me instantly when I needed it. So I promise you that from now on I’ll be there for you, too.”

“Thanks, Twinkles,” Toph smiled.

“You wanna come in and hang out?” Aang asked her, gesturing up to his apartment.

“Nah, I was supposed to be home an hour ago, my parents are probably wondering where I am,” Toph replied. “also, you need a shirt.”

“Oh yeah,” Aang chuckled, looking down at his bare chest.

“See you tomorrow then?” Toph asked.

“Yeah,” Aang said.

The two friends said goodbye and Aang made his way back up to the apartment. He only realised when he got to the door that he left his phone and keys in his room when he left. Knocking on the door he inspected himself and hoped he didn’t look too beat up.

“Aang, what happened to you?” Gyatso gasped when he answered the door.

“Meng cheated on me, so I hung out with Toph and let my feelings out,” Aang told his uncle. Technically he wasn’t lying, as that’s exactly what he did.

Aang walked straight to his room without giving Gyatso time to respond and flopped down onto his bed. Looking at his phone, he saw seven missed calls and a text from Meng.

“Aang I’m so sorry. But you never wanted to have sex with me, what else was I supposed to do? I know now that I made a huge mistake and I’m so sorry I’ll never do that to you again. Please just give me another chance. I love you Aang”

Aang scoffed as he read through the paragraph Meng had sent him. He decided to be a decent person about this, though and sent her one last text before blocking her number.

“Meng, don’t bother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that Meng is out of the picture, and Aang realises Toph will always be there for him, how will they go from here?  
> I had tons of fun writing this chapter and I think it's my longest one so far, so please comment and leave a kudos if you enjoyed reading. :)


	13. Dirt

Aang and Toph’s friendship repaired itself extremely quickly after the fight three weeks previously. And since their freshman year was winding to an end, they were spending more time together.

“I can’t imagine having to study for tests,” Toph said.

The gang all sat in the shade underneath the old oak tree behind the football pitches. Usually it was a spot couples would go to make out in secret, as it was quite out of the way. But today the gang were all who were present, shielding themselves from the stifling heat of South California summer.

“I actually enjoy the challenge of studying,” Katara replied curtly. “and, Toph, you do have tests to study for.”

“Yeah you would enjoy studying, wouldn’t you,” Toph shot back, rolling her eyes. “and, Katara,” she continued, copying the older girl’s tone of voice, “I’m a freshman, and these are end of year tests. Nobody studies for those.”

“Aang’s studying for them,” Suki pointed out, looking up from her textbook.

“Aang doesn’t count,” Toph dismissed.

“Hey, maybe you guys can shut up?” Sokka suggested.

“Yeah, I’m trying to work something out,” Zuko agreed.

“Hmph,” was all Toph said to that.

Silence descended on the group of friends, and Toph entertained herself by trying to get a beetle on the ground to crawl up onto her hands. When that didn’t work, she resorted to moving her hands around to block the beetle’s path, until it managed to slip by her and scuttle away. The bell that signified the end of lunch rang out. They all got up and headed towards their classes. Aang and Toph, having a class together, walked alongside each other.

“It’s so weird that the school year is almost over already,” Aang said. “I swear we first met Katara and Sokka like two weeks ago.”

“Yeah, it is pretty weird,” Toph replied. “and remind me again why you’re studying for the tests?”

Aang rolled his eyes and smiled.

“Toph, these tests are practise for when we get older and need to start taking more important ones.”

“Aha!” Toph cried, pointing her finger at Aang’s face. “So you admit they aren’t important!”

“Compared to the SATs, no, Toph they aren’t important.” Aang replied sarcastically. “And get your finger out of my face, it’s got dirt on it.”

Toph brought her finger back and inspected it.

“Ah, so it does,” she concluded. “well, we can’t be having this.” 

Toph then wiped her finger on Aang’s creme coloured crewneck, leaving a prominent brown streak down the middle of it.

“Toph!” Aang shrieked. “That might stain!”

Toph burst out into laughter. The sight of Aang sprinting towards the nearest water fountain to attempt washing off the dirt was too much for her to take.

“Twinkletoes calm down,” she laughed. “it’ll come off.”

“But what if it doesn’t?” Aang said wildly, turning to look at Toph with a dire facial expression, which only made Toph laugh harder.

“Hahaha!” she cackled. “Come here, Twinkles,” she called.

Aang reluctantly made his way back over to Toph, who stood patiently. 

“Here,” she said, reaching out and taking his jumper. “if you rub it, you’ll just smudge the stain and make it worse,” she explained while taking a wet wipe out of her backpack. “but if you dab it with something moist, it should come right out.”

When she was done Aang looked down at the stain that was now virtually gone.

“Wow,” he said. “where’d you learn that?”

“Internet,” Toph shrugged. “I needed to get a stain out of the carpet in my room a couple months back.”

“I’m impressed,” Aang complimented her as they continued on their way to class.

Because of the delayal of Aang’s jumper, the two ended up being late to class. Ms. Sato was none too pleased with them.

“And where were you two for the last five minutes?” She questioned the two friends.

Quiet chuckles broke out among the class, Ms. Sato was a very respected teacher, so people who were late to her classes were either stupid or very bold, Aang and Toph managed to tick off both of these categories at the same time.

“Well I got dirt on my jumper,” Aang explained, “and Toph had to get it off with a wet wipe.”

The laughs in the class became more audible as Aang continued his story, even producing the wipe that was used. All the while Toph stood in silence.

“You know what, I don’t even care. Just sit down,” Ms. Sato finally said. “you guys are wasting my time.”

Toph and Aang went over to their seats and sat down while Ms. Sato continued her talk on the exams. Milo, the boy who sat behind Aang, leaned forward and started talking to him.

“Come on Power, tell the truth, you two were making out, weren’t you?” he whispered to Aang. “everyone already knows you two are dating.”

“Hey, Milo,” Toph whispered back to him. “How about you shut your fucking mouth before I do it for you?”

Milo shrank back into his chair, he knew better than to piss off Toph Beifong.

“Care to continue your conversation with the rest of the class guys?” Ms. Sato called from the front of the class.

“No miss, we don’t,” Aang responded quietly.

“Well in that case, you can all continue it outside of my classroom. Get out!” Ms. Sato barked at the three freshmen.

All three of them groaned and started packing their stuff up before shuffling over to the door.

“And right before exams, too,” Ms. Sato sighed.

When the three teenagers got out into the hallway, Milo turned to Aang and Toph angrily.  
“Nice going, Bei Fong.” He spat.

“Hey man, you were the one who started talking,” Aang pointed out.

“Yeah but I wasn’t the one speaking loudly,” Milo responded. “And I don’t know why you’re defending her, Power. It’s hardly like you’d be having any luck with girls, anyway.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Aang asked him, fists beginning to clench slightly.

Milo smiled meanly.

“What it means, Power. Is that your last girlfriend played you like a fool, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened aga-”

His words were cut short by Aang’s fist colliding with his chin. It happened so quickly that not even Aang had fully processed what had happened until Milo was lying on the ground, knocked out cold. Toph stood there in a stunned silence for a few seconds before a smile broke out on her face.

“Well, that's one way to make someone shut up,” she chuckled.

“Did I just do that?” Aang whispered.

“You did indeed, Twinkletoes,” Toph smiled, clapping him on the back. “and we should probably get out of here pretty quickly before someone comes along and sees us.”

“But what about Milo?” Aang asked her.

“What about him?” 

“Well we can’t just leave him here,” Aang said, pointing to their classmate sprawled out on the ground.

“Don’t worry, I got this,” Toph told Aang.

She bent down and lifted Milo’s body up and positioned him to be sitting against the wall. There was a large bruise growing on the lower half of his face where Aang had hit him.

“There,” she beamed, admiring her work . “now it looks like he’s having a nap.”

“I guess so?” Aang agreed, still very uncertain.

“We gotta get out of here though,” Toph urged him.

“Yeah,” Aang said. “I think it would be best if we just skipped the rest of the day in case someone comes looking for us. There’s only a couple more classes anyway.”

“Now you’re speaking my language, Twinkletoes!” Toph approved.

Leaving Milo against the wall, who was just now gaining consciousness again, the two friends snuck out the fire escape with the broken alarm and strolled off of the school property.

Toph had suggested they go back to her house, since both her parents would be out working. Sitting in Toph’s dirty bedroom, they got talking.

“I still can’t believe you punched him, Aang,” Toph recalled in disbelief. “that’s just the least “you” thing ever.”

“I can’t believe it either,” Aang admitted. “I guess I was still angry about Meng, and he was insulting you and I just saw red.”

“Well he deserved it anyway,” Toph reminded him. “don’t beat yourself up over it.”

“Maybe you’re rubbing off on me.” Aang joked.

“And would that be such a terrible thing?” Toph asked him, crossing her arms.

“It would be a horrific thing to happen,” Aang told her, sticking his tongue out.

Toph tossed a pillow at his face, which he dodged and returned fire with another pillow. From there it turned into an all out pillow battle, with books and pictures being knocked off of shelves and a glass of water being spilled all over Toph’s desk. Finally, Toph had Aang pinned down. 

“Do you surrender?” she panted.

Aang who was equally as out of breath and sweaty, grinned manically.

“Never!” 

“Then death may it be,” Toph cried out before slamming the cushion into Aang’s face.

The two friends giggled like little kids. They hadn’t played like this in a very long time.

“I missed this,” Aang told Toph, who was still sitting on top of him.

“I did too,” she smiled.

“What do you want to do now?” Aang asked.

“I can think of a few ideas,” Toph grinned.

“This was a good idea, Toph,” Aang praised as he splashed around in the cool water.

“I guess I’m just a genius,” Toph responded as she sat by the edge of her family’s private backyard pool.

“Maybe,” Aang suggested.

“I’ve been thinking,” Toph continued. “we should throw a party over the summer break.”

“What makes you wanna do that?” Aang inquired.

“I don’t know,” Toph replied. “I just feel like throwing a party.”

“I’m down,” Aang said. “who will we invite?”

“Anyone that wants to show up,” Toph answered. “I’m going for numbers here, Twinkles.”

“And as far as drinks go?” Aang asked.

“I can get Zuko to handle that, he’s got a fake ID.”

“Sounds good to me,” Aang concluded. “what about your parents?”

“They’re always away the second two weeks of July,” Toph told him. “They stopped hiring a babysitter when I turned 13. We can spread the word next week.”

“Sick,” Aang said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you guys miss me? I'll try to put out a new chapter everyday this weekend depending on how inspired I am. But yeah, please comment or leave a kudos if you enjoyed :)


	14. School's Out

The time had come for Toph Beifong’s “party to end all parties” to quote. 

The gang all sat at the side of Toph’s pool, the summer sun still high in the sky. With everything set up and ready, the only thing to do now was wait for the guests. Cracking open a can of Bud Light, Sokka turned to the house owner.

“So when are people actually gonna start showing up?”

Toph turned back to him and let out a frustrated sigh.

“Sokka, this is the fifth time you’ve asked me this; so at the risk of repeating myself, people will start to show at about 7:00. Also, stop drinking the beers.”

Katara stood up rather purposefully and put her hands on her hips. 

“Well if it’s almost six o’clock now, then I think that’s more than enough time to get you prettied up, Toph.”

Toph suddenly stopped twirling her feet in the water and looked up to Katara as if she had just insulted Toph’s entire bloodline.

“Excuse me? You want to “pretty me up”? What in the world made you think I want to be pretty?”

“So if you see a boy you like at the party, obviously.” 

“I don’t dress to impress boys, Katara.” Toph scoffed. “If a boy wants me, he’s gotta want me all the time, not just when I’m wearing makeup or a miniskirt.”

“Well then at least get dressed up to look presentable.”

Toph realised there was no use in arguing with Katara on this, so she let herself be dragged off into the house, being followed by Suki who no doubt wanted to help. That left only the boys, who continued to sit by the poolside.

Aang couldn’t help but feel the anger bubble inside of him when Katara told Toph she might “see a boy she liked”. He put it down as being protective of his friend, but something inside of him said otherwise. He decided to ask Sokka and Zuko, since they probably knew more about girls

“Hey guys, how do you know if you like someone?”

Sokka and Zuko both looked at each other and then back to Aang.They both silently mulled the question over before Sokka finally lifted his shoulders up in an “I don’t know” fashion.

“I guess you just know when you know, little dude. There’s really not much else to it.”

Aang wasn’t satisfied with this answer, so he decided to take it a step further.

“Well then, how do you know when you love somebody? Like, Sokka, when did you know you loved Suki?”

This question brought a smile to the senior’s face. As much as he liked playing the tough guy act, he liked talking about how much he loved his girlfriend more.

“That, I can answer,” he began. “I guess I first knew I loved Suki a couple months after we started dating, it wasn’t a huge big revelation like they show in the movies. It was just little things; like when I couldn’t help but smile when she texted me, or when we were hanging out and the littlest touches made me inexplicably happy." he continued "The biggest thing, though, was when the thought of her being with anybody else made me sick to my stomach. It was like this fire inside of me burning up through my body.”

Aang sat and listened intently. His thoughts up until now were that it would be a huge revelation. But hearing this from Sokka, he realised that all those things he was talking about, were the things that he felt when he was with Toph. Maybe he needed to talk to her about this. Zuko, who had been quiet up until now, finally spoke.

“Why are you asking this, Aang? Are you hoping to get lucky tonight?”

Aang rolled his eyes, trust Zuko to ask an awkward question like that. Before he could come back with anything, though, Sokka butted in.

“Don't listen to anything Katara tells you about that kind of stuff,” he told the freshman. “I lost my virginity when I was your age, and so did Zuko. Katara is just a prude so don’t be taking sex advice from her.”

Aang laughed audibly. 

“I see the alcohol is starting to hit you.”

Sokka just waved his hand dismissively.

The three boys sat and talked for another while, Aang loved hearing all the wild stories Sokka had. At about 6:30, Katara marched proudly out of the sliding porch doors.

“Gentlemen,” she called to the boys by the pool. “I present to you… Toph Beifong!”

Aang’s jaw nearly hit the floor. The girl that awkwardly shuffled out of the door was not the Toph he knew. If he had thought she was beautiful before, this was a whole other league. She was dressed in a tight crop top that held against her chest nicely. Along with that, she was wearing a jade green skirt that matched her eyes. Aang had never seen her wearing clothes that fit her before, and it took a lot of energy to keep certain thoughts out of his mind. The makeup she was wearing defined her plump lips and cheekbones. As well as that, the skirt exposed her toned legs, which Aang couldn’t help but stare at. 

“We found all this stuff in her mom’s wardrobe,” Katara beamed.

“No way that’s Toph,” Zuko laughed. “what happened to the cargo pants and baggy hoodies?”

This comment made Toph flush red with embarrassment. She turned to Katara and Suki with anger.

“I told you guys this was a stupid idea!”

Running back inside and up to her room, Toph tried to make the tears welling up in her eyes not obvious.

Katara marched over to Zuko with ice in her eyes and smacked him across the head.

“What the fuck was that?” 

Zuko brought his hands up to defend against any more oncoming attacks.

“Ow! What did I do?”

This only made Katara angrier.

“Hmmm, let me think. Oh yeah! You only made a mockery of her outfit! You know how much Toph hates this stuff. Why would you say something like that?”

Sokka, who was at the cooler grabbing another beer, chimed in.

“Yeah that was a jerk move.”

Zuko looked around and saw that everyone was staring at him with disapproving looks.

“Ok, I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know it was that big a deal. I’ll go inside and talk to her.”

Aang held up a hand to stop Zuko as he was getting up.

“No. I’ll go talk to her. She seemed upset. Plus, I need to talk to her about something else anyway.”

Aang made his way into the house again, holding his jacket in one hand. When he was out of earshot from the rest of the gang, Suki spoke up.

“There’s absolutely no way they aren’t dating.”

Katara rolled her eyes and scoffed. 

“I know, right? And if they aren’t, they’re gonna be dating soon. I can feel it.”

Standing outside of Toph’s door, Aang heard loud metal rock music coming from the inside. He knew this was what Toph did when she cried so nobody would hear her. Before he even knocked on the door, the music stopped.

“You can come in, Twinkles.”

Aang never knew how Toph could always sense it was him, even when she couldn’t see or hear him. It was just another thing about her that fascinated him.

Slowly opening the door, he saw her sitting on the edge of her large queen sized bed, wiping her eyes.

“Hey, T,” Aang only rarely called Toph by her nickname. It was usually when he was comforting her. “you doing alright?”

Toph wiped the last of her tears away and breathed in deeply to compose herself.

“Yeah, I’m good. Why do you ask?”

Aang stared at her, did she think he was really that stupid?

“Because your mascara is running down your face, and your eyes are still red.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.” Aang closed the door behind him and sat next to Toph, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “You know Zuko didn’t mean anything bad in what he said, right?”

Toph leaned into Aang and sighed.

“Yeah, I know. But I don’t see why I need to get all dressed up like this anyway. I don’t want to be “pretty”, and I don’t need anybody else to tell me so.”

Aang rubbed his hand on her shoulder and leaned his head onto hers.

“I know that, and so do all of our friends. I think the girls just wanted to show off how beautiful you are.”

Toph took her head off of Aang’s shoulder and looked at him.

“You think I’m beautiful?”

A small tint of red grew on Aang’s cheeks, but he smiled and nodded. It was time to let her know.

“I think you’re stunning, Toph.”

Aang wanted to say so much more, but his nerves got the better of him.

Toph’s face flushed red. Nobody had ever complimented her like that before. Did he really think that, or was he just lying to make her feel better?

“Thank you, Aang.” Toph replied. “You aren’t too bad looking yourself.”

The two friends laughed together. Aang was happier that Toph was feeling better.

“Oh fuck. I’ve ruined Suki’s makeup,” Toph groaned.

Aang jumped up and went into the en suite bathroom in Toph’s room, coming back out with a damp hand towel.

“No worries, this should get it off, I hope.”

Just as Aang was finishing up with Toph’s makeup removal, the doorbell rang.

“Those must be the first guests,” Aang said, walking over to Toph’s door. “are you coming?”

Toph waved her hand, telling him to go on. 

“Give me a second here, I need to finish getting ready.”

Aang quickly made his way down the stairs, taking them two at a time. By the time he made it to the bottom, Katara was already standing at the door and letting the first people in.

“Looking like a good turnout so far, there’s already a couple more out the back,” she informed Aang.

“Sick,” he replied. “Toph is just in her room, she’ll be down in a bit.”

“Everything good?”

“Yeah, Katara, it’s all good.”

Over the next half hour, more and more people began arriving. Many of the guests were of the older years. Most freshmen either didn’t want to go or were planning on sneaking out to the party later on. By 7:45, there were at least 100 people in Toph’s back garden; with more inside the house.

Toph had come down after cleaning herself up more. Not to say Aang’s attempt wasn’t good, but a hand towel and warm water wasn’t going to remove high quality makeup.

The Gang all sat at the island in Toph’s kitchen. Students were milling around them, someone had started a beer-pong game in her father’s games room.

“Aren’t you afraid people are gonna trash the place?” Katara yelled over the loud music blasting from the house stereo system.

Toph just rolled her head back and laughed, she was already two shots and a beer deep.

“Katara, I couldn’t care less if this place burned to the ground. I’m just here to party.”

Katara looked concerned at that comment.

“But what about your parents?”

“My parents don’t give a shit about me, Katara. So why should I give a shit about them?”

Before the older girl could respond, one of her friends from class grabbed her by the arm and dragged her off to dance.

“I think Suki and I are gonna go see if there’s a new game of beer-pong starting,” Sokka slurred. He had already had too much to drink.

Suki, who had drank equally as much as her boyfriend, threw her arms in the air.

“Wooooooo! Beer-pong!” 

As the couple stumbled away, hanging off of each other, Zuko rolled his eyes and sipped his glass of whiskey.

“They’re a match made in heaven, aren’t they?”

Aang chuckled through his sip of beer.

“Tell me about it.”

“I think I’m going to head over to the fire pit,” Zuko told them. “I hear it’s more chill than in here.”

Looking around, Toph and Aang couldn’t disagree. The loud party music blasting from the speakers accompanied with the drunk teenagers throwing themselves around and calling it dancing didn’t really fit Zuko’s vibe.

“Well, have fun,” Toph yelled.

Sitting in silence, Toph and Aang just watched the students around them. It took a while for Aang to notice Toph had scooted closer to him on her chair and was now right next to him.

“Did you mean what you said earlier?”

Aang jolted in his seat. She had scared him.

“Did I mean what?”

Toph rolled her eyes and smirked.

“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about, Twinkletoes. Do you really think I’m stunning?” The tequila shots had definitely given her some courage.

Aang didn’t know how to answer that question. The simplest way was to just tell the truth; yes he did. He thought she was more beautiful than any other girl he had ever met in his life. And even when he was with Meng, he thought of her every night before he slept and every morning when he woke up. There was no more denying it; he loved her.

But that answer came with so many risks. What if she didn’t feel the same way? Or if she did feel the same way, but it didn’t work out and he lost his best friend?

Aang decided that he would come to a compromised answer.

“Yes, I do think you’re stunning.”

“Then come dance with me, Twinkletoes!”

Dragging him out onto the dance floor, Toph felt fuzzy, and she didn’t think it was the alcohol’s doing. She twirled around and danced with Aang until her feet hurt. Until they were both sweaty and out of breath and until they had to stop and just stare at each other.

Aang thought back to when they had first met, two years ago on that snowy day in winter. How she had punched him in the arm and went with him to throw snowballs at people. How they were chased by an angry man and his dog for three blocks until they finally lost him. And how after they were safe, started laughing and laughing and didn’t stop. How that little girl, with her dirty, boyish face had turned into the beautiful young woman before him.

Toph also thought back to when they first met, how she looked into his eyes, the same way she looked into them now. And how those eyes still looked like they held the sky in them. How although she had grown, so had he. He was still taller than her, and the head of long, flowy hair was now bald. She thought about how he was always there for her, and how she cried for five hours when he and Meng went on that date. She thought about her friend, who had turned into a boy she loved.

Aang and Toph leaned in, their lips locking together. They stood in the middle of the dance floor for a long time, embraced in their kiss, deaf to the world. 

“I fell in love with a girl, I fell in love once and almost completely.”

Aang’s hand groped around to find the source of that noise before finally landing on a phone. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw text flashing on the screen accompanied by the song “Fell In Love With A Girl” by The White Strypes.

“WAKE THE FUCK UP!!”

Aang groaned and turned the phone off before tossing the phone away.

“Why does Toph’s alarm have to be so annoying?” he grumbled to himself.

It took a few seconds for the information to make its way through his hungover brain. His eyes shot back open and he sat up.

“Toph’s alarm?” he repeated, gasping in pain and lifting his hand up to his searing headache.

Looking around, he saw a very similar scene to that after Halloween; except they were in Toph’s room this time. Toph was lying next to him again, except on her back, exposing her entire chest. His movements had made Toph stir in her sleep and wake up.

“Ughhh, Twinkletoes stop moving so much and go back to sleep.”

Aang was caught off guard. 

“Wait… you aren’t gonna hit me?”

Toph smirked slowly.

“Why would I hit you? That was the best sex of my life,” she mumbled.

Lying back down, Aang put his arm over her stomach and turned to look at her.

“I’m the only person you’ve ever had sex with, Toph”

“Says who?” Toph joked. “now come here and kiss me before we go back to sleep.”

Aang could hardly believe it. This was all he could have asked for. Placing a long but soft kiss on Toph’s lips, he lay cuddled up to her again.

“Does this mean we’re dating now?” he asked her.

“Hey, if you buy the dinners, then totally,” Toph replied.

Aang let out a small laugh before his fatigue consumed him again. He didn’t even want to begin to imagine the cleanup that awaited them downstairs, or the nerves from last night stopping him from saying how he felt. He didn't want to think about any of that. All he wanted to think about now was falling asleep next to the girl he loved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINISHED! Who knew it would take 14 chapters for me to become semi decent at writing? Trust me to only get good at the end, though. But please please please leave a comment and a kudos if you enjoyed reading. This was my first fic of many I'd say, so stay tuned for more :). Thank you to everyone who commented and left a Kudos throughout my story.


End file.
